Souchaku Henshin Series
The is an action figure toyline series released by Bandai from 2000 to 2009 and was part of Bandai's Chogokin toyline. It was well-known for its gimmick of attaching Rider armor pieces made of die-cast metal onto a base body, mimicking the Kamen Riders' transformation sequences in the TV series. It was later retired to make way for the S.H. Figuarts toyline, which is often seen as the successor to this toyline. History The toyline for the Kamen Rider Series began in 2000 with the first season of the Heisei Era, Kamen Rider Kuuga. It continued on in 2001 when Kamen Rider Agito was on television. After Agito's run, Bandai began producing Souchaku Henshin figures for the Showa Era Riders as well. When Kamen Rider Ryuki came on television in 2002, due to the concept of Riders being paired up with Mirror Monsters, a different toyline known as Rider & Monster (R&M) was introduced. Rather than the die-cast metal used in Souchaku Henshin, these figures were made of plastic instead. It also did not feature the gimmick present in the SH toyline. The SH toyline was also not produced during Kamen Rider 555 s run. In 2004, however, the SH toyline came back with the release of SH figures for Kamen Riders Faiz and Kaixa. Along with SH figures from the then current series, Blade, SH figures for the Riders from the previous two seasons were produced as well. The series also expanded to feature characters from the Metal Heroes and Garo franchises. From 2000 to 2006, the Souchaku Henshin line had base figures with human heads modelled after the Riders' human identities themselves. However in 2007, as Kamen Rider Den-O introduced the concept of armour pieces snapping onto a Rider's base suit as part of a form change, the SH figures from that season onward would no longer feature human heads. In 2008, while SH figures for Kamen Rider Kiva were being produced, a new toyline known as S.H. Figuarts was introduced. It featured show-accurate detailing of Kamen Rider figures, starting with its first KR figure, that of the rebooted version of Kamen Rider 1. It later began to expand into other franchises such as Super Sentai and various anime franchises. It was possibly due to the introduction of this new toyline that the Souchaku Henshin series was retired after Kiva's run. Beginning with Kamen Rider Decade, every show had an action figure toyline which shared similarities to the articulation in Souchaku Henshin, particularly the articulated hands, but with gimmicks specific to the shows. Things such as Arms Change and Level UP Rider Series share Souhaku Henshin's use of removable armor. However, die-cast metal was no longer used for the production of these figures. List of Kamen Rider Figures Notes *GD-26 was not a Shouchaku Henshin toy, it was a Chogokin Gundam toy of the Mass-Production Zaku mecha making it one of the first in the line to skip a number. External links *Unofficial database on Souchaku Henshin figures (slightly outdated) Category:Toylines Category:Merchandise Category:Kamen Rider Series